The First Time
by naelacy
Summary: A collection of song fics based off of Kelsea Ballerini songs. All of them will be one shots based off her songs from her album "The First Time." Riley and Lucas will either be the main pairing or it will be the implied pairing. Most GMW characters will make an appearance throughout.


**So I am currently obsessed with Kelsea Ballerini's first album _The First Time_. This story will consist of one shot song fics based off the songs on the album. If you know the album I am talking about, the stories will not go in order, but rather as I find the inspiration to write the story. I hope you enjoy the first one based off her song _Looking at Stars_. This one takes place in the spring semester of their senior year. **

**AN- I do not own GMW and I am not Kelsea Ballerini. I just love both of them.**

* * *

Lucas was pushing his was through the crowds in search for his girlfriend. He promised he wouldn't leave her side because he knew she didn't like parties, but when he heard Zay yell his name, he knew his friend's mouth had gotten him into trouble again so he told her to stay where she was at and he would be right back. He knew she didn't like parties, but she came with him tonight because the party was in celebration of the baseball team making it to the state championship game and because that is the type of girlfriend she is. But when he got back to the spot he could have sworn he left her in, she was no longer there. So here he was frantically searching Zay's house for her.

He went upstairs to Zay's bedroom and saw her lying down on Zay's bed reading a book. "Riley Matthews! What do you think you are doing lying in your boyfriend's best friend's bed?" Lucas said, while standing in the doorway smirking.

"Well, when my boyfriend ran off to find his best friend, I figured that I could be the one to expose them as secret lovers." Riley said, looking up at Lucas and giving him a matching smirk.

"Ha. Ha." Lucas deadpanned. He walked over and sat on the bed by Riley, grabbed her hand and placed it in his lap. "I'm sorry for leaving you down there by yourself. You know Zay. He still can't keep himself out of trouble, even after all of these years."

"It's okay Lucas. I know you have to protect us and I love that about you. It was just overwhelming down there and I knew that Zay's parents wouldn't mind me hiding out up here." Riley said sitting up and shifting closer to Lucas. "But now that you're back, I will go back down there with you so you can join your teammates with celebrating."

Lucas leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. "You are the most amazing woman in the world Riley Matthews and I don't know what I did to deserve you."

"Lucas, I'm not going to keep you from celebrating this huge accomplishment with the team. You deserve to do that! And I am grateful that you want me to celebrate with you, but I just feel so out of place in this world. I don't fit in with the parties and the big crowds. I would rather be sitting up on my roof and looking at the few stars we can see. But, I love you and I am willing to feel like this for you. And when you guys when state next weekend, I will do it again. Just don't tell Maya."

"I would never tell Maya!" Lucas said, laughing. "And again, I ask myself what did I do to deserve you? We don't have to stay long. And I am not going to let go of your hand again, no matter how many times Zay yells my name."

"See! I've said it once and I will say it again! You abandoned me for her!" said Zay from the door. Lucas and Riley looked at Zay and laughed at him. "Now get out of my bed! That's where I sleep man! I just washed the sheets!"

Lucas shook his head at his best friend, but stood up and pulled his girlfriend up. He wrapped his arm around Riley and led her downstairs to rejoin the party. He could tell she wasn't having a good time, but he knew just how to make it up to her.

* * *

Riley was sitting in her bay window waiting on Lucas to come and pick her up. It was a lot of work to be dating a star player of their school's baseball team, but she loved Lucas and would do anything for him, including putting herself in awkward situations at parties that she felt completely out of place at. And since the team had won the state championship game, she would be doing that again tonight for him. He deserved to get to celebrate his accomplishments and she would be right there beside him celebrating with him. She was proud of him and she wanted him to know that and this is how she showed him. She heard noise on her fire escape and looked at her window as he reached her landing. He crawled in the window and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"Hi." He said, smiling at her.

"Hey." She said right back. "So where is the party at tonight?"

"Up in the Catskills. You up for a drive?" Lucas asked.

"Why is it up there? That's almost three hours away. By the time we get there, we will have to come back because of our curfews."

"What curfews? I talked to our parents and they trust us to have one night of fun without restrictions."

"My father is giving me a night without a curfew?" Riley questioned him.

"I asked your mother and she said that she could trust us to have one night of fun without restrictions."

"Ah ha. That's what I thought." She said giggling at him. "Well let's get going."

"After you." He said, following her out the bay window.

The two went down the fire escape and out to his dad's truck.

"So are we picking up Zay on the way?" Riley asked while climbing in.

"Nope. It's going to be just me and you." He said smiling at her, grabbing her hand and kissing it. "We were with people all week. I just want you to myself for a little bit. Is that okay with you?"

"It's perfect." She said smiling at him.

* * *

The drive was a long one. Lucas let Riley control the radio and they sang along to every song for a while. Once they got away from the city lights, Riley started admiring how pretty the countryside was. The sky was clear and she was just admiring the moon and stars. Lucas kept stealing glances at her. She was so beautiful and he couldn't believe he got to call her his girlfriend. He hoped she liked what he had planned for her. The closer he got to the Catskills, the more nervous he got. He noticed Riley start to doze off, so he grabbed her hand and kissed it. He saw her smile, but she didn't open her eyes.

"I'm going to take a little nap. That way I can drive us home and you can sleep." She told him.

"Okay princess. I will wake you up when we get there." Lucas said, rubbing circles on her hand with his thumb.

* * *

When Riley woke up, she noticed that the truck was parked, but there wasn't anybody around. She looked around and there weren't any other cars or people. She didn't even see Lucas at first, but then she noticed him in the rearview mirror in the bed of the truck. She got out and when she shut the door.

"Where is everyone?" she asked Lucas.

"Sleeping beauty finally woke up." Lucas said, hopping out of the bed of his truck.

"Were we the first ones here?" Riley inquired as he approached her and grabbed her hand. "Where is everyone?"

"Everyone who matters is here." Lucas said, grinning at her.

"What do you mean? I thought you said the party was out here tonight…" Riley gave her boyfriend a confused look.

"Our party is." Lucas said, his grin widening, as he led her to the bed of the truck. He had piled pillows and blankets in the truck bed and Riley gasped as she noticed.

"Lucas, what is this?" Riley asked.

"I just wanted to say thank you by not dragging you to another crazy party. I know you don't enjoy them, but you always come with me to them with a smile on your face. I wanted to do something that you wanted to do tonight. So, here we are." Lucas said, motioning to the scenery around him.

"What are your teammates going to say? What are all of your fans going to say?"

"I don't care what they say. That's why I turned my phone to 'Do Not Disturb.' If my parents need anything, I told them to call your phone. You are all I care about tonight." Lucas said, as he hopped up into the bed and offered his hand to her and pulled her up to join him.

They snuggled into the pillows and blankets and Lucas pulled the big comforter he had set off to the side up over them. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and she relaxed against his body.

"Look at how bright Rucas is tonight!" Riley exclaimed. Lucas chuckled at his girlfriend as he remembered the last time they laid on her roof trying to find the different constellations, but Riley couldn't ever remember the names. It was hard to see them in the city, but the one she did find, she named it after their couple name their classmates had coined. She said she wanted to name it Rucas because even though the city lights tried to out shine it, the constellation was still able to stick out and shined brighter than the city lights. She was always such a romantic.

Riley just sat there and enjoyed the scene around her. She couldn't believe that Lucas planned this out and didn't tell her. She was prepared to spend another night glaring at the girls who "forget" that Lucas is taken and feeling completely out of place. She was appreciative that Lucas would almost never leave her side at these parties, unless Zay's big mouth got him in trouble. She liked how protective he was of her and made sure that his teammates were nothing but respectful to her. And she loved the fact that Lucas never evened looked at another girl and if one tried to treat Riley as if she was invisible, he made sure they saw her. She giggled thinking about last weekend when Missy Bradford was trying to talk with him last weekend at Zay's.

"What's so funny?" Lucas asked.

"Oh, I was just thinking about last weekend at Zay's when Missy was trying to talk to you and kept rubbing her chest against your arm right there in front of me and how you started attacking my cheek and lips with kisses because 'they looked like they missed you.'" Riley said, not being able to hold back her laughter.

"Well, was I wrong? I didn't hear you protesting when I was doing it." He responded, letting out a laugh of his own and noticing the blush form on Riley's cheeks. He leaned down and kissed her on the top of her head. "I love you and I don't mind showing you affection."  
They fell into a comfortable silence gazing up to the stars, both silently wishing that they could pause time and stay here in the moment forever. Senior year had been busy for both of them. Riley had loaded her schedule with advanced classes and was working at her mom's bakery most days and while Lucas had done the same thing with his school schedule, he had football in the fall and baseball in the spring. Most of their time together was Lucas hanging out at the bakery while Riley worked, spending time with their friends, whether it was the clique six or Lucas's baseball friends or when they were studying together. And while they loved their study dates because that was pretty much the only time they got to spend alone, there was just something about getting to be with each other without worrying about anything.

"Can you believe we are almost done with high school?" Riley asked.

"No, I really can't. I feel like it was just last week we were standing down in the hole trying to figure out what those seniors were trying to teach us." Lucas said.

"You mean arguing about it and getting into our first argument ever." Riley said, glancing up at him.

"I like my memory of it better, so can we rewrite history?" Lucas said frowning while he thought about the time he almost ruined his friendship with Riley.

"I think what happened needed to happen. I think it made our friendship stronger in the end. So I wouldn't want to rewrite it. I think getting into our first argument and resolving it while we were just friends has helped us get through our arguments as a couple. Every argument we have had has just made us that much stronger." Riley countered.

They both took the time to take a trip down memory lane thinking back over their relationship and what they had been through. The first few weeks after they came back from the ski lodge was a difficult time while they tried to define their relationship. They argued about how they should react around other people because Riley was worried that Maya was just stepping back again and didn't want to rub their relationship in her face and Lucas wanted to show her off to the world as his girlfriend and didn't care who had a problem with it, including Maya. He wanted to spare her feelings, but Riley Matthews was finally his girlfriend and he wanted to show her off as his girlfriend. Both of them were being stubborn and their relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend almost ended before it really began. When they finally sat down and talked about things is when they agreed to make their relationship theirs. They would do what they wanted to do and nobody else was allowed to have any say in their relationship.

And it worked for the most part, at least until Maya and Zay started dating. Unfortunately, when Maya and Zay broke up because Zay felt like Maya wasn't completely into their relationship, it put a crack not only in the clique six, but also Riley and Lucas because Maya thought Riley should side with her and Zay felt like Lucas should side with him. They started arguing with each other defending their friend to each other, but thankfully, Farkle and Smackle intervened and helped them realize that what they were arguing over had nothing to do with them and they just had to let their best friends hash it out. There were other fights here and there, but they both believed that conversation was the most important part of their relationship and they made sure to talk things out when they needed to. They both looked at each other and smiled.

"It's so peaceful out here. It reminds me of Texas." Riley said.

Lucas sighed. He had a feeling she would bring up Texas and while most of the time he would love to be reminded of their time star gazing in Texas, he knew she wanted to talk about the next four years. She was staying in New York and going to Cornell and he had yet to tell her his decision.

"Riley, I told you a thousand times, I am not going to Texas for college." He started.

"Texas offered you a full ride baseball scholarship Lucas! How can you turn that down? Plus, you've always talked about the possibility of going back to Texas. And they have a really good pre-vet program." She exclaimed.

"When was the last time you heard me talk about going back to Texas for college Riley?" he asked her. He watched her think about it, but before she could respond, he goes, "Other than when I was given the offer from the Longhorns, have I even brought up going back to Texas for school?"

"But Lucas, it's your home. And you would get to paly baseball."

"Riley, I don't want to play baseball forever. Yes, I have loved playing in high school, but my dream job is to be a veterinarian. And while it would be nice to play in college, it's not something I have to do. Plus, I have been offered academic scholarships to other schools and that is more important to me."

"What about Poppy Joe though? I know he was looking forward to you moving back to Austin. That's all he talked about while we were down there over winter break."

"I've talked to Poppy Joe and he understands. Riley, my home is here. I will always love Texas, but it isn't my home anymore. You and New York are my home. And I don't want to be 2,000 miles away from home for the next four years."

She smiled at that statement. He was always so smooth with his words. "Are you sure? I don't want you giving it up and then one day ten years from now when we are laying in bed with little Joseph Alan and all of a sudden you resent me because you didn't go to Texas to play baseball."

"First off, I made the decision to turn it down before I even told you about the offer. And second, little Joseph Alan?" he looked down, smirking at her.

"Our first son. I know we haven't really talked about kids and where we are going in the future, but I can't imagine a future without you. And I mean we don't have to name our son Joseph Alan. I just love how good it flows together and I thought that our granddads would love it. And I just realized we haven't actually talked about the future together and here I am telling you all this stuff and I don't know how you feel about all of this and I'm going to stop rambling now." She said without taking a breath. She gazed into his emerald green eyes and as he stared back into her chocolate orbs, he knew he would give her whatever she wanted until he took his last breath.

"Can I talk now?" he asked giving her a wide smile. She nodded and pulled the blanket up to hide her face. He tugged it down and tilted her chin up to make her look back into his eyes.

"Riley, I know we always talk about the important things and the future is a very important thing. But I haven't brought anything up about it because I just assumed you knew how I felt about it. I want exact same thing as you do. I want to spend the rest of my life waking up next to you and little Joseph Alan when God decides to bless us with him in the distant future. I can't imagine my life without you either. That's why I have decided to accept Cornell's admission offer and scholarship because I can't imagine being even just 4 hours away from you. I know that sounds super cheesy, but it's the truth. I have faith that we could make it work if I went to Columbia or NYU, but I don't want to do that. I want to be in the same city as you for as long as you want me around."

"Are you serious Lucas?" Riley asked. "Is this really what you want?

"Riley, the only thing I want more than going to Cornell with you is making you my wife," he said staring into her eyes.

"Is that a proposal Lucas?" she asked, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Not yet. It's more of a promise for now. But there will be a proposal one day in the near future." he said smiling at her.

Riley placed her hand on his cheeks, just like she did during their first date all those years ago, and pulled him in for a kiss. It wasn't as sweet and innocent as it was when they were in 7th grade though. She laid back and pulled him down on top of her without breaking the kiss. He felt her fingers playing with the hair on the back of his neck and it sent shivers throughout his body. He felt her smile against his lips and that made him smile. He knew she loved it when his body showed her the effect she had on him. He moved his lips along her jaw, nibbled on her ear a little bit and then moved his lips down to her neck. She started moaning when he his lips found the spot below her ear and he could feel his blood rushing south. He smiled and sat up before he got too carried away.

"Why did you stop?" she huffed and sitting up as well. "

"Riley, you know as well as I do if I don't that we may do something that we might not be ready for yet."

"Lucas, what if I said I think I'm ready?" she asked him so innocently. He looked at her to try and determine how serious he should take those words. They had talked about becoming intimate many times before, but he didn't want her to feel like she had to because she had felt how ready he was.

"Riley, I know there isn't anyone around and no way we can be interrupted, but I don't want us to get caught up in the moment tonight and you regret it tomorrow. As soon as you can say that sentence without the words 'I think' then we will have a very special night together," he said wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her into him. They looked at each other and Lucas gave her another kiss.

She laid her head on his shoulder and goes, "I love you so much Lucas. And you're right. Let's just spend the rest of the night talking and **looking at stars.** "


End file.
